Life appeared to be settling back into a normal routine. At least Charlie didn't seem to find herself the object of a vampire's lunch, or the victim of a mage's meddlings. All good things in her mind.

Seattle in February was not the sort of place people go for fresh air in the park. It was cloudy and wet and rainy ninety percent of the time. Even so, Charlie was used to the weather and didn't usually mind the rain.

Today was mostly just cloudy and cold with only a threat of rain, so Charlie found herself walking through one of the many parks Seattle had to offer. A cloud of cigarette smoke circled her head as it streamed from her mouth. The damp air held it in place a few moments before it slowly dissipated.

"Those'll kill ya, lady." The high pitched voice of an African boy piped up behind her, followed immediately by another voice, this one older, feminine and thick with a Southern accent.

"Baako, you're bein' rude." The woman it belonged to was bundled up tight, with a small bulge protruding from the front of her coat.

There was also a small girl walking alongside them, barefoot and dressed in clothing much too thin for this kind of cold. The girl looked sad, sullen, and didn't say a word or even make eye contact with anyone. Just walked, holding Stephania's hand.

Charlie turned and looked down at the boy. Perplexed, her brow furrowed. What did you say to a kid that you didn't know? Parents could be so touchy. Rescue came at the sound of a woman's voice and Charlie moved her attention from the boy to the woman.

A half smile tugged at the corner of Charlie's mouth and she gave a half shrug, "Eh, it's alright. Kids, yeah?"

Her eyes flicked to the bulge in her pocket and immediately got distracted by the girl. Barefeet and listless with no jacket, in this weather?

"Uh... isn't she cold?" Charlie didn't want to pry or tell a mother how to be a parent, but there were some basic things that you just couldn't overlook. Like shoes. In February.

"Shouldn't she have shoes on? Or a coat?" Charlie shifted uncomfortably, "I mean... not to tell you how to parent but... it's February."

"Aw, shit." Stephania sighed. If the red haired woman could see Rose, that meant the baby was up. Stephania adjusted the cooing infant, who was tucked securely to her chest in a Moby wrap, under the layered jackets.

She gave an apologetic wince, but kept her attention on the woman. "For one thing, she ain't mine. Well, she is, but she isn't. But more importantly, Rosalie can't feel the cold. Not like I'd let a little kid catch hypothermia out in this weather. What kinda person do I look like?"

Oh. Great. Crazy magic-y person with creepy kids. Charlie's face had shifted from uncomfortably concerned to one that said something like 'I don't know what you are but please don't magic me'.

"Oh.. uh... sorry. Didn't meant o pry or offend. Just.. kids... need shoes.. and coat." Charlie's ability to make coherent statements left her stammering and mumbling. She shifted her weight and took a deep drag of her cigarette, her eyes moved warily between the three.

Was it just Charlie or did there seem to be an unusually large number of supernaturals in Seattle? She wondered if this was a recent thing and there was some sort of convention, or if she had been living under a rock for the last twenty years.

Okay, it was official; she’d been spending way, way too much time in the fantastical world of Many Moons. So much so that she’d started to forget that not everyone lived in that world. There were in fact, people in Seattle who didn’t mingle (at least knowingly or purposefully) with the preternatural community.

Odd. She’d never really considered herself part of the preternatural community before. Sure, she had that whole aura residue thing, but that was barely a blip on the abilities radar. And, yeah, she’d been infected Rat in some epic plot put together by college extremists, and had only escaped the Shifter Sentence after sucking on some magic pearl after discovering she was carrying the child of a now deceased psychic who saw dead people.

Christ, she really was a freak.

“No, you’re right to’ve said somethin’.” She shrugged, “it’s complicated is all.” She extended a hand toward the red head, “I’m Stephania Duberg. This is my son Baako,” gesturing to the dark skinned boy, then opening her jacket just enough to show the top of a tiny, purple winter hat, “this is my daughter, Calliope. And that’s Rose.” Nodding down at the shoeless girl.

Cautiously Charlie moved the cigarette from her right to her left hand and took Stephania's, "Uh.. Charlie."

As Steph introduced Baako, Charlie nodded a polite "Hi," then craned her neck to peek at the cooing bundle. She sucked on the cigarette and blew the stream of smoke to the side away from Stephania and the children.

"You want the truth? Or mortal-bubble bullshit? I can do either. The bubble's a hell of a lot shorter, too. And less risky." Not that she didn't have a body guard following her around, Clarence; a high ranking rat that Dante Milgram had suggested.

The Court wasn't going to waste any of the top of the line staff on her and the kids, but Eli did do his best to keep her at least feeling safe. Ish. Clarence was just far enough behind her, and good enough at covert ops, that his link to Steph had gone undetected by anyone who may have noticed him at all.

"Less risky...?" Charlie paled even more. She didn't want to get any deeper into the supernatural world than she already was. The view from her little bubble of normal was just fine, thank you very much.

...to Seattle, with all its thousand contradictions. A city of silicon dreams and bloody nightmares. Ruled by a child queen with diamond-tipped fangs, occupied by artists and shapeshifters, computer programmers and ancient vampires, college students and creatures of myth. Living (and unliving) together and once the sun goes down it's...

In-character content, help files, and original plots belong to the staff and members. If you see something cool you'd like to play with, ask. Given that we're using somebody else's mythos, it'd be pretty lame if we refused to share.